


Comforting Foods & Comforting Words

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Baking, Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Fluff, Happy Molly, Molly has a bad day, POV Molly, POV Molly Hooper, Poor Molly, Romantic Fluff, Sherlock Being Considerate, Sherlock Being a Good Friend, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Fluff, Sherlock Is Nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 02:11:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5767300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly’s had a day dealing with every possible idiotic colleague at all of Barts and all she wants to do is go home and relax with a glass of wine and a nice, long soak…only to realize that Sherlock as at her flat, having spent the afternoon baking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comforting Foods & Comforting Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vonPeeps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonPeeps/gifts).



> So this was written for **vonPeeps** , who left a prompt in my Tumblr inbox that went " _Friendly request for the friendly reminder: Molly telling Sherlock about her idiot colleagues after a bad day at work?_ " when i reminded people that I write fic to cheer people up if they need it. I know it's a few days late because I was trying to figure out a way of writing it that wasn't like what I've written before, so _hopefully_ i succeeded.

She’d known it was going to be a bad day roughly twenty minutes into her shift, when Stamford told her she had a new batch of interns to deal with and she realized that they all hated each other. She had hoped that, perhaps, it would be a mildly bad day, but it just got progressively worse as she had to deal with impertinent inspectors from the Yard, complicated autopsies, idiotic coworkers in her department and Stamford’s superior deciding today would be the day they needed to discuss the budget for the department.

By the time she trudged up the stairs to get to her flat, she just wanted to put the whole bloody day behind her. Have a glass of wine, take a long soak, curl up with a pint or two of ice cream, and then go to sleep and hope tomorrow was better.

She put her key in her lock and unlocked the door, and the minute it was opened she was assaulted by a wave of smells. All of them were scrumptious and familiar: apple and toffee crumble, chocolate and gingerbread brownie bars, Cherry Bakewell sponge pudding… She shut the door behind her and looked towards the kitchen to see Sherlock moving around in it. “Sherlock?” she asked, confused.

“Good. I timed it well,” he said, checking the timer he had on the counter. 

“Timed what well?” she asked.

“The texts you’ve been sending to Mary. She’s been telling John you’ve been having a bad day at work so I called our day working on the case short to have comfort food waiting for you at home. These were the recipes that were on the cards that had the most use in your recipe box, so I assumed you made them the most.”

She smiled a bit at that, surveying her kitchen. It looked like a small disaster area. There were dirty dishes all over the sink and around it, and baked goods littered the counters. She could see marmalade and whisky bread and butter pudding, slow-baked clotted cream rice pudding, shortbread biscuits, a flat apple and vanilla tart and a chocolate brownie cake. There was also spiced coconut porridge on the stove, and she could see he was making cranberry & orange compote to go with it. A lot of these things were things she made when she went to potlucks, or were making gifts to give to others, not when she wanted comfort food on her own, though the porridge she would admit looked mighty good. Then she turned back at him. “You do realize I usually curl up with a glass of wine and a pint of ice cream, right?” she told him, her smile widening.

He frowned at that. “Oh,” he said.

“This all looks good, though,” she said, picking up one of the biscuits and nibbling on it. “And this tastes excellent. I can make do with all this, even if it will add quite a bit to my waistline. Unless you want to stay and help me eat some of this?”

“I suppose I could,” he said, turning his attention back to the porridge.

“Good.” She went to her refrigerator and then got out a bottle of wine. She gestured to Sherlock with the bottle but he shook her head, so she took down one glass and poured herself a rather large amount before taking a sip. She shut her eyes as she relished the taste of the wine traveling down her throat. Oh, this was definitely a good end to the day. “Thank you for this, by the way. It means a lot.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “I felt that after a day surrounded by idiots and imbeciles you deserved something nice.”

She leaned against the worktop and gave him a smile. “Well, that is certainly new for you,” she said. “But I still appreciate it nonetheless.”

He was quiet for a moment. “You’ve done a lot for me over the years,” he said. “If I can repay the kindness even a bit, I should. And I will, as often as I can.”

“Thank you,” she said. She had some more of her wine. “It’s just been a very long and tiresome day. I have a group of interns who are scheming against each other and trying to stab each other in the back. There’s only one position open in my department for a long term study program next year and they all want it. Personally I loathe them all and don’t want any of them in the program. And then I had complicated autopsies and detective inspectors being unmitigated arses all days, wanting their results faster than I had them finished. They were trying to rush their results and breathing down my neck. And then I had to have a meeting with Stamford’s superiors about the budget. They want me to cut costs next quarter.”

Sherlock removed the porridge from the heat and then went to get two bowls for them. He spooned the porridge into the bowls, and then spooned some of the compote onto the porridge. Molly set her wine glass down and took the bowl he offered her and then went and got them spoons, handing him one before taking a bite. Sherlock’s attempt was just as good as hers, she realized. “You know, you could always threaten them with none of them getting into the program,” Sherlock said as he took a bite of his own porridge. “You do have the authority. Tell them you won’t tolerate shenanigans in your department. Stamford will probably back you up on that.”

“I suppose,” she said thoughtfully.

“As for the DIs, they’re all arseholes. Graham is the only moderately decent one in the whole of Scotland yard.”

Molly grinned at that. “Greg, Sherlock. His name is Greg.”

Sherlock waved his hand slightly. “Point is, they’re all arseholes. But if they don’t treat you well, then you have every right to treat them poorly back until they learn their lesson.”

“I’m not you, Sherlock,” she said.

He frowned slightly. “Do you think I treat everyone poorly?”

She was quiet. “Not everyone. Not me, at least.”

“Well, no, of course not you. I actually _like_ you. Quite a bit.” He looked down at the porridge. “Probably quite a bit more than I should, actually.”

“What do you mean, Sherlock?” she asked, lowering the spoonful of food she was about to eat back into her bowl.

“I care for you…greatly,” he said hesitantly, moving his spoon around his bowl, mixing his food together. “I treat you differently than I treat most people, at least these days. Since I came back. You’re important to me, especially since you’ve helped me…”

“Wrestle your addiction?” she prompted.

He nodded. “And I’m not sure what all that means for me, or for us. But I would like the chance to find out, if you’re willing.” He looked up at her, and she could see uncertainty in his eyes. It was strange seeing it there. It was a foreign thing to see on his face.

After a moment she set her bowl on the kitchen worktop and went over to him, taking his bowl out of his hands and setting it on the worktop beside him before taking his hands in hers. “I think I would like that very much,” she said with a smile, squeezing his hands gently. She saw the small smile blossom on his face and he pulled her a little closer, and she forgot all about the food and the bad day and all of that and concentrated of this moment, on the fact that he had admitted that he cared for her, that he wanted to see if there was something between them. That more than made up for her horrendous day earlier.

**Author's Note:**

> I found a collection of comfort food recipes and pulled the recipes in the fic from it. If you're interested in making them, here they are: [Baked Apple And Toffee Crumble](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/baked-apple-toffee-crumble) | [Marmalade And Whisky Bread And Butter Pudding](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/251622/marmalade-and-whisky-bread-and-butter-pudding) | [Shortbread](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11609/shortbread) | [Chocolate Gingerbread Brownie Bars With Fudgy Icing](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-gingerbread-brownie-bars-fudgy-icing) | [Spiced Coconut Porridge With Cranberry & Orange Compote](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-coconut-porridge-cranberry-orange-compote) | [Cherry Bakewell Sponge Pudding](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cherry-bakewell-sponge-pudding) | [Flat Apple And Vanilla Tart](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2337/flat-apple-and-vanilla-tart) | [Slow-baked Clotted Cream Rice Pudding](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9101/slowbaked-clotted-cream-rice-pudding) | [Chocolate Brownie Cake](http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2882/chocolate-brownie-cake-)


End file.
